Tag: Long term travel

A lot of people advocate for “travelling while you’re young”, and often this is associated with a lack of responsibilities. For example, it’s best to go before you’ve settled down, bought a house, started a career, had a family etc.

I won’t deny that travel is probably in many ways easier before all these commitments. But there is another side to the debate.Continue reading →

Prior to arriving in New Zealand my budget for this country was one of the big unknowns in preparing for the trip. This is because we were planning to buy a campervan (rather than rent), and had no guarantees how much money we’d get back when it came to selling. Additionally New Zealand is renowned for being a fairly expensive country to travel in, which given the amazing adventure sports on offer its not surprising costs add up.

Over the 72 days I spent in New Zealand the costs amounted to $5,336 total. And averaged out at $74.11 per day. (All costs are in NZ dollars btw not USD!)

New Zealand can be a fairly expensive country to travel around, especially in comparison with Asia. However there are a few things you can do to keep your budget down. Here are a few suggestions:

Bookme.co.nz
One of the most expensive aspects of travelling around New Zealand has to be the activities. Skydives, white water rafting, zorbing etc – it all adds up. A great website to check out is bookme.co.nz. They offer great discounts on an array of activities from bungee jumps to spa trips. And the savings can be large. For example I booked black water rafting via bookme and saved $100!

While preparing for long term travel I spent a fair bit of time researching which backpack to buy. I narrowed my choices down using certain criteria:
▪️Small enough to take on as hand luggage (40L max)
▪️Top and front loading (for easy access)
▪️Airflow back panel
▪️A pretty colour (yes, this is a totally unnecessary, girlie criteria)

And in the end I settled on the Osprey Sirrus 36L (in purple), which ticked all the boxes. Especially the pretty colour! Continue reading →

I knew before leaving that India would be one of the cheaper destinations on my trip. But still I was surprised just how cheap. Over the 102 days I spent in India the costs only amounted to 113,757 rupees (£1,126) total. And averaged out at 1,115 rupees (£11.04) per day. Continue reading →

One of my biggest packing dilemmas before leaving home was the question: glasses or contact lenses?

Being incredibly short sighted (-6.5), and unable to see more than a few inches from my face without corrective lenses, I did worry about how I was (literally) going to see the the world. Continue reading →